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Dorothy Copus Brush Easter and the wonderful staircase Easter week and my thoughts turn to churches
I have visited. Each year I focus on one of those churches where
I would like to spend Easter morn. This year it is the Loretto
Chapel in Santa Fe, NM. For over a century the story of the spiral
staircase has grown into a legend. In the late 1930s when the
story of the mystery builder appeared in "Ripley's ... Believe
It or Not" it became part of the popular culture. Since
then the story has been written about and dramatized. Located on the Old Santa Fe Trail, the beautiful
stone Chapel of Our Lady of Light was dedicated by the Sisters
of Loretto on April 25, 1878. These dedicated women had traveled
here from Kentucky. Their journey began in the fall of 1852 when
they traveled up the Mississippi River to St. Louis and then
on to the Southwest. They settled in Santa Fe, a very small town
founded in 1610 which eventually became the New Mexico state
capital. Even after all the struggles, fears and privations they
had endured during their long trip, they faced more difficulties
before they succeeded in establishing a convent. The chapel construction began in July 1873,
some 21 years after the sisters left Kentucky. Patterned after
the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, it was designed by an architect.
When completed five years later the cost was $30,000. The Gothic
chapel was 25 by 75 feet and 85 feet in height with a choir loft
at the rear. The work was almost complete when a frightful discovery
was made. The chapel was beautiful, the loft was beautiful. But
there was no way to get from one to the other. Many experts were consulted, but they all
said there was no way to build a staircase now. The height of
the loft, 20 feet above the floor, ruled out a conventional stairway
because it would take up too much room in the chapel. Their only
suggestion was to use a ladder, and that is what the sisters
did at first, holding their long skirts tightly to reach the
loft. These ladies of great faith made a novena
to St. Joseph, patron saint of carpenters, with the hope a solution
would come. On the final ninth day of prayer an answer arrived
when a white-haired, bearded stranger leading a donkey and carrying
a tool chest knocked on their door inquiring for work. The circular structure made two complete turns
of 360 degrees each without a center support. No nails were used,
only wooden pegs. It rested against the loft at the top and on
the floor at the bottom where the entire weight appears to be
supported. Structural engineers and architects recognize
this was the work of a master craftsman. The staircase was balanced
so that it stands as a coiled spring will stand when perfectly
balanced. How long it took to complete the stairway varies from
a short time to six to eight months. For the sisters the work done by this man
who never revealed his name was a divine miracle. Adding to that
feeling was the fact that once the task was finished the builder
disappeared without collecting his pay. This lovely chapel would
be a meaningful place to ponder the miracle of Easter. There is new information on this famous staircase which I will give next week. |